SILVER CITY, Mich. — An 8-year-boy from Wisconsin who got lost in an upper Michigan state park survived his two-day ordeal by eating snow and using branches to keep warm, authorities said.
Nante Niemi, of Hurley, was walking and gathering firewood for his family’s campsite at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park when he went missing around 1 p.m. Saturday, the Michigan State Police said in a news release.
He was found Monday afternoon.
“A volunteer searching found him under/near a log, where’d he been the entire time, about two miles from the campsite. He appears to be in good health!” the state police wrote on Twitter.
The boy survived the chilly weather, which had dropped to 49 degrees overnight Sunday, by covering himself with branches and leaves for warmth. He remained hydrated by eating clean snow, police said.
A number of you have asked how Nante survived in the woods. Lieutenant Wickstrom says the boy told them he covered up with branches and leaves for warmth and also blanketed the log he was under. He didn’t have any food but ate clean snow for hydration.
— MSP Eighth District (@MSPEighthDist) May 8, 2023
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The boy also said he purposely stomped his boots in mud and snow so rescuers could see his tracks, WBAY-TV reported.
Dan Skrypczak, camping director for the Scouts Bay-Lakes Council, told the television station that he was impressed with Niemi’s survival skills, adding that many 8-year-olds would not have known what to do.
“If you didn’t know he was in the woods for two days, you wouldn’t know,” Eli Talsma, 18, who helped in the rescue, told ABC News. “I mean, he was just normal. Nante was just walking around. He was talking. He was asking questions. He said he wasn’t hungry.
“He was perfectly fine, but we did give him a Cliff Bar and a banana and some water.”
The state park, nicknamed “the Porkies,” is Michigan’s largest state park and is located in the western part of the Upper Peninsula, The Detroit News reported. The park covers 60,000 acres and includes Lake in the Clouds, Summit Peak and the Presque River, according to the newspaper.
More than 150 search-and-rescue personnel assisted in the search, which covered approximately 40 square miles, MLive.com reported.
Jake Allen, a member of the search party, said the group was relieved to find Niemi safe.
“Obviously we found the best-case scenario,” Allen told WBAY. “We were all just kind of taking it as it was, high-fiving, and happy that the plan came together.”
The Hurley School District, where the boy attends classes, wrote in a Facebook post on Monday that “words can not describe the emotions and joy the students and staff are experiencing at this moment!”
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